Surreptitious Serendipity
Though I’m almost hesitant to draw an economic conclusion from the recent airplane crash on the Hudson, I’m only almost hesitant. Examples of spontaneous order are always, by their nature, unplanned. Jeff Kolodjay (a passenger on the plane), perhaps unknowingly, articulated his encounter with spontaneous order. When asked to describe his experience, he said that it was, “At first chaos, but everyone was kind of orderly, man. You know after a while everyone, we just, I just kept saying relax relax, women and children first.” Out of the unavoidable chaos came an ordered approach to getting out of the plane. No one was hurt, and the pilot was admired for his measured reaction. In the words of a passenger, “He saw what was happening, gained a low altitude, turned the plane in the right direction, found the Hudson River and made sure it wasn’t a nose-first landing but rather flat.”
Obviously, no one goes around hoping for emergencies that will illustrate the ability of individuals to handle themselves responsibly when faced with potential catastrophe. However, when these things do happen, they deserve note through the lens of liberty. MM
